Enforce immigration law to solve Rockland fiscal crisis

Illegal immigration is the ignored problem that has made government broke on federal, state, county, local and school board levels.

For our baby-boom society, standard operating procedure consists of un-reimbursed demand for public services; bankrupt hospitals used as free clinics; an untaxed black market economy that drains money from local circulation sending home millions to foreign nations.

However, there is something Rockland County can do. In 1996 President Bill Clinton signed 287G into federal law. This gave local police the same authority for immigration enforcement as federal agents. This law has been ignored by the George W. Bush and Barack Obama administrations, but is still on the books.

If the county was really interested in putting the taxpayers first, it would sue the federal government and get a court order mandating compliance and facilitation of 287G. Rockland County is located an hour's drive from four international airports each with its own immigration and customs unit. What we are talking about is a simple pick up and drop off.

The Supreme Court recently ruled that requesting identification from people suspected of being in the country illegally was perfectly legal and this can be facilitated through cellphone fingerprint scans. There is a police solution to this county's fiscal crisis, and the county legislators must start it by going to federal court for 287G.